Sunday, 6 January 2013

The best albums of 2012 according to Ever Circling Wolves

The year changed and we thought it might be fun to compile lists of our favourite albums of 2012. We listen to different kinds of music, you see. Some albums, however, could be found on more than one list. Note that the only list that is ranked is Niko's, the rest are in alphabetical order.

Niko:

The hardest
thing to do is to rank these albums. Here they come though..

Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind

Greatest
hardcore bands in history. Artwork is exceptional once again and there's also
17 tracks
that won't let the listener down.

Baroness – Yellow & Green

This
record is very different than earlier Baroness releases. I like the sounds a
lot and also the
chances taken in the composing process.

Off! - OFF!

Punk
rock as it should be! Total kick straight to the nuts.

High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis

Completely
grooving brutality. Tremendeous drumming, killer riffs and the songs really speak for themselves.
Kurt Ballou has done great work as a producer also.

Witchcraft – Legend

I
also like the melodic stuff. Witchcraft blends those old school styles with
catchy songs and vocals.

Fuck
your five stars!! And top-5 lists, this just became the top-6.

Kowloon Walled City – Container Ships

This came to me a bit late (sons of bitches!) but it hit the
scrotum on the first round. Lucky enough I can still enjoy this sludgy bubbling
through 2013!

Henri:

Author
& Punisher – Ursus Americanus

If you’re
not familiar with this one-man-band, the situation must be remedied instantly!
I mean, one guy doing drone doom with instruments he made himself! And he plays
live as well! As if that wasn’t reason enough, the album is really awesome.

Conan – Monnos

It took me
until the first days of 2013 to hear this album, but from the first listen it was
clear that it would make the list. Sounds like ever so smoothly pushing oneself
through a mountain while smashing up heads of orcs with a huge axe.

Kowloon
Walled City – Container Ships

We kept an
eye on KWC’s recording progress while recording our own album and, as it turns
out, they were a hell of a lot faster than we were. The first time I listened
to this album, I listened to it three times in one go. Raw-sounding and dire, I
suppose this can be classified as sludge. I know it’s brilliant, though.

Lord Mantis
– Pervertor

This album,
like Monnos, evaded me during 2012
per se, and, likewise akin to the Conan effort, took exactly one listen to make
it on this list. My ears say it’s a mix of sludge and black metal and, more
importantly, that it sounds very good. And vile. Which is good.

Winterfylleth
– The Threnody of Triumph

Something
to satisfy my need for WITTR-like black metal, especially since the new
Nachtmystium wasn’t all that great. Went on my ‘to buy’ list after half a
listen to their previous effort, The
Mercian Sphere. Also tops said previous effort. I think I spent most of
December listening to this.

Witch
Mountain – Cauldron of the Wild

A logical
continuation of their 2011 effort, South
of Salem. Traditional doom with a female vocalist, shamelessly devoid of
any kind of hurry. Excellent riffs, excellent beats and excellent vocal
melodies combine to make up an excellent album.

While
compiling this list, I realised I’d heard a lot more absolutely brilliant
albums throughout 2012, but many of them had come out earlier. Honourable
mentions to Living with the Ancients
by Blood Ceremony, Hisingen Blues by
Graveyard and the Southern Lord reissue of Dopesmoker
by Sleep (which did come out in 2012), to name but a few.

Otto:

Baroness – Yellow & Green

Though
lacking in the heavy department, if compared to their earlier efforts, Green
and Yellow is still a great masterpiece. John Dyer Baizley is getting better as
a singer, record by record, and their unique brand of prog/metal/rock/southern
states stuff is as great as ever.

First Aid
Kit – The Lion's Roar

This album
really blew me away; I had no idea somebody could still make so authentic 60's
folk in the 21st Century – even less by these two Swedish girls, barely at the
legal drinking age! I wish I could've made music this mature when I was 20; I
wish I could make music this mature some day.

Kowloon
Walled City – Container Ships

One of the
greatest sludge albums of our time – the only drawback is the all too short
length of this album. Half an hour of pure awesomeness is definitely not
enough! Needs more!

Nerve End –
Axis

Nerve End's
first EP barely aroused my interest, as their musical genre is really not my
cup of tea, so I wasn't that thrilled by the time of Axis's release neither.
But the first listen through and I was already somewhat interested; couple of
listens more, and I was definitely stoked! It simply doesn't make sense that
this is an EP recorded and produced mainly in a living room – the sounds are of
a world-class album! And the tracks, hoo boy! There are only a couple of songs
in the world that can send chills down my spine the way the final minute of
"Thrive" does.

Soen – Cognitive

While we're
waiting for the next Tool album, this is probably the best substitute I can
come up with; very Tool-y stuff with lots of Riverside and Opeth elements in
the mix; all seasoned with Martin Lopez's smashing drums and Steve DiGiorgio
bass awesomeness!

Woods of
Ypres – Woods V: Grey Skies &
Electric Light

In
retrospect, this must be probably one of the greatest ways to end one's career.
Though Woods V suffers from the same naïve lyrics as all of the WoY albums do,
they don't bother me at all in this album; on the contrary, they fit the songs
simply perfectly with their candor and sincerity. And boy, are late David
Gold's deep, resonant and Peter Steele-esque vocals pure honey to my ears.
Heartwarmingly depressive and gut wrenchingly beautiful doom album.

Not making
it to the list, but still worth of honorable mention: Baulta – That's My House You're Living In (This
might just be one of the best post-rock releases in a while, but I'm not sure
yet, as I've just found it. Anyways, after a couple of listens, this seems to
be simply an amazing post-rock album in the vein of This Will Destroy You,
maybeshewill and Russian Circles.)

Sami:

Baroness - Yellow & GreenI saw Baroness for the first time at Tuska 2012 and the live experience was probably the best of the festival weekend. Energetic, innovative and very distinctive band. Their latest album continues the collection of awesome colour-themed albums with heaps of well-arranged and played pieces.

Betrayal at Bespin - RainsAlso a new acquaintance for me. These guys mix movie, post-metal and progressive vibes with a good taste. The year's most interesting domestic band.

Kowloon Walled City - Container ShipsKowloon's Gambling on the Richter Scale was an awesome piece of brutal slugdy crushing. On this one they have lightened the sounds a bit but the brutality is still there. Probably my favourite sludge assembly at the moment.

Kuusumun Profeetta (Moon Fog Prophet) - Huutoja hiljaisesta huoneestaEvery project involving Mika Rättö in one role or another leads to a certain win. Moon Fog Prophet scrambles elements from post-rock, psych rock and numerous other genres with a unique touch. Also, Rättö's distinctive vocals have a major role in this mixture of musical greatness.

Om - Advaitic SongsAl Cisneros surprises with slightly different atmospheres and sound patterns. This time the listener is brought to a hazy Middle-Eastern scenery with epic string, bass and percussion tunes. It's a pity that the packacge contains only five songs and a total of 44 minutes. I would have desired one or two extra tracks.

Witchcraft - LegendLooks like those damn Swedes do everything better than us. Including old-school-slugde-doom-hard rock. This band is a new discovery for me and this is the first album I hear from them. Seems like some kickass old-scool-crushing with an awesome tone.

So, here they are, and based on these lists, the best album of 2012 was Container Ships by Kowloon Walled City, with Yellow & Green by Baroness coming in as the close second. All in all, awesome albums were had and no doubt some more fell under our radars. Let's just hope 2013 will bring more of the same. Actually, we know one pretty good album that's (probably) coming out in 2013. We are currently in the process of recording it.